The present invention relates to a football tee with multiple ball supporting modes. The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 29/347,638, filed Mar. 23, 2010, and titled “FOOTBALL TEE.”
The present invention constitutes the latest evolution of a series of football tees invented by co-inventor H. Jay Spiegel (Spiegel) which are currently the most popular football tees now in use.
Spiegel developed the concept of supporting an American football for kickoffs using a recess that is at least partially shaped like the tip of the football. This recess replaced traditional tees that were prior art before that invention that all used upstanding prongs to support the ball. Upstanding prongs were an appropriate way to support a football when the technique for kicking the football consisted of locking the ankle and striking the ball with the front of the shoe which was squared off for that purpose. The art of soccer-style kicking was developed by Pete Gogolak of Cornell University in the early 1960s. In that technique, the kicker would strike the ball with the toe down and using the instep of the foot. With the toe down, invariably, the end of the foot would strike the prongs on the tee immediately prior to the foot striking the ball. The result was slight dislodgement of the ball from the tee just prior to impact, materially affecting the accuracy of the impact on the ball and materially affecting the trajectory and distance of travel of the ball as a result.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,453 and 4,657,252 first disclosed the concept of a ball receiving recess shaped like the tip of a football with a second recess forward of the ball receiving recess to allow the tip of the ball to spin out of the ball receiving recess when the ball was kicked. The first version of Spiegel's tees to be approved by the National Football League (in 1988) had a base as shown in U.S. Pat. No. D 305,448, and a ball receiving tee received within that recess as shown in U.S. Pat. No. D 291,714. Spiegel's tees evolved with a changed appearance of the base from its appearance in U.S. Pat. No. D 305,448 to its appearance in U.S. Pat. No. D 372,062. With the base disclosed in that patent, the rubber ball receiving tee had a changed appearance as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. D 383,816; D 383,817; and D 392,705.
The tee consisting of the base shown in U.S. Pat. No. D 305,448 and the rubber tee of U.S. Pat. No. D 291,714 was first marketed as the TOE-TAL® tee. When the tee shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. D 372,062; D 383,816; D 383,817; and D 392,705 was commercialized, the earlier TOE-TAL® tee became obsolete and the TOE-TAL® trademark was used in association with the new iteration. That iteration continues to be on sale to this day and is highly successful.
By 1999, the TOE-TAL® tee was being used by every NFL® kicker in every NFL® game. When the NFL® informed Spiegel of its intention to outlaw the two-piece TOE-TAL® tee for NFL® use in the next year (since kickers were pushing the rubber insert up within the base to increase the elevation of the ball), the one-piece GROUND ZERO®-1 tee was developed. That tee has the appearance as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4-6 of U.S. Pat. No. D 383,816. Either the TOE-TAL® tee or the GROUND ZERO®-1 tee has been used in every NFL® game since 1999. The GROUND ZERO®-2 tee is a two inch version of the one inch GROUND ZERO®-1 tee. The GROUND ZERO®-2 tee and the TOE-TAL® tee are the most popular tees currently used in high school football.
In the game of football, when a team is behind on the scoreboard in the final minutes of the game after scoring points, the team might attempt to gain another possession by performing what is called an onside kick. Under the NFL® rules, when a kickoff is done, once the ball travels 10 yards down the field, it is a live ball and either team may recover it. Thus, the onside kick is performed with the intent of having the ball travel just over 10 yards and in a fashion giving the kicking team the best chance of recovering it.
Prior to 1999, when kickers would attempt onside kicks, they would use tees traditionally designed for long kickoffs and place the ball on those tees in weird orientations. The problem with those techniques was that it was impossible for the kicker to place the ball on the tee in precisely the same orientation and configuration every time. This introduced uncertainty as to where the ball would travel when it was kicked. Spiegel solved this problem in 1999 with the development of the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee. In that tee, the traditional ball receiving recess as disclosed and claimed in Spiegel's earlier patents was included. Additionally, a recess was provided in the forward wall of the tee permitting the ball to be supported leaning against the forward wall of the tee with the tip of the ball on the ground. This is the best configuration to use to successfully accomplish an onside kick. The ball could be so supported the identical way each time, thereby providing reproducibility of results each time.
Spiegel obtained U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,309,316; D 489,779; D 507,315; D 507,814; and D 513,775 covering the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee. The drawing figures of U.S. Pat. Nos. D 507,315 and D 513,775 most closely resemble the current commercial version of the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee. The manner of support of a football on the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of U.S. Pat. No. D 507,315 and FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. D 513,775.
While the GROUND ZERO®-1, GROUND ZERO®-2, GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® and TOE-TAL® tees are the most popular tees used in the game of football today, there is always room for improvement. Anything that can enhance the versatility of a tee would be an improvement. One aspect always important to a kicker is the aspect of visibility of the ball when kicking. In the tees commercialized by Spiegel as described above, the bottom ⅝ inch of the tip of the football is contained within the recess and from the position of the kicker is not visible due to its enclosure by the ball receiving recess. Additionally, providing a tee with features facilitating supporting the ball for traditional kickoffs as well as onside kicks and squib kicks would render a tee extremely versatile. It is with these thoughts in mind that the present invention was developed.